International Federation
for Human Rights

The Open letter signed by FIDH and its Sudanese, African and International partners concerned the crackdown on peaceful protests and the wave of arbitrary arrests and continued incommunicado detentions by Sudanese government forces was addressed to 6 United Nations Special Procedure mandate holders including:

UN Human Rights Committee

• • UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention;
  • UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Mr. David Kaye;
  • UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in the Sudan, Mr. Aristide Nononsi
  • UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Ms. Annalisa Ciampi
  • UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mr. Michel Forst

The signing African and international organisations, condemned the unlawful killings, arbitrary and continued incommunicado detentions, torture and other forms of ill-treatment, excessive use of force and post-print censorship by government forces. They urged the UN Special Procedure mandate holders to reiterate to the Government of Sudan that all Sudanese have the right to freedom of expression, association, and assembly including freedom of the media. They further urged them to call on the Government of Sudan to:

1. 1. Guarantee the safety and well-being of all detainees and grant them immediate and unfettered access to their lawyers, family members and medical services.
   2. Charge or release all those arbitrarily detained, and for those charged, ensure prompt access to a lawyer of their own choosing and full respect for their rights as detainees and to due process and a fair trial.
   3. End its policies of post and pre-print censorship of newspapers.
   4. Stop harassing and intimidating Sudanese citizens including human rights defenders, peaceful activists and journalists and others who seek to exercise their rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.
   5. Conduct an immediate, independent and impartial investigation into all allegations of excessive use of force against peaceful protestors as well as ill-treatment and torture of detainees by police and NISS. Findings of such investigations should be made public and perpetrators should be held accountable before an independent and impartial tribunal.